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Volunteer with TransVisibility and move the vision forward

it seems the original set of volunteers got busy and are unable to fulfil their respective roles. I am now looking for volunteers to help move the TransVisibility.com vision of global unity and acceptance forward. Bloggers, Writers, assistant editors, and an executive editor positions are all available. So stop sitting on the sidelines and make a positive difference. Or if you are already involved in the community, we would love your help over at the TransVisibility Camp.
moderators are also being sought for http://www.TGender.com a 100% free transgender specific support, social networking and Dating website. Yes you read right, 100 % free. No charge for anything, including chat.
if you are interested, drop me a note via the contact page
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Submitted by JaceJones on Mon, 02/03/2014 - 06:43

My name is Jace. I am a 22 year old man, and a recent college graduate. My degree was in Psychology and my minor was LGBT studies. With one look at me, you might have some questions about my gender, many people do. In response, I have to say I am male and the fact I am a male with a medical condition does not make me any less male.

I was born in a hospital in Texas to two parents. They thought they were going to be getting a daughter, but they got a son instead. While they weren't aware of the fact I was their son until I came out to them as such, I have always known I am a man. A lot of people ask "how do you know for sure?" and my response is simple. I have always known. Just like I know I have brown hair and brown eyes, I also know I am a man. I am revealing all of this to you to help inform you about my story, in the hopes you, yes you, reading this, will wish to become more informed about the trans* community. While I know many people will read this and not wish to know anything more, I also know my story can help others, which is why I am writing this today. There are many points I want to cover in this article, now that I have introduced myself. I want to cover my experience with starting testosterone; Trauma; Relationships; and Healing while in my journey.

My experiences with starting testosterone: Starting testosterone has changed my life. It has made me much happier, much more satisfied with life, and much more able to face the harsh realities of life, we all face. Before starting testosterone, I was always afraid of how others saw me, and what they thought of me. Now that I am on testosterone, I am much more comfortable in my body, and the thoughts and feelings of others bother me much less. I have much more confidence and much more satisfaction with life now. I didn't have anxiety about starting testosterone at all, but rather I was very excited to start testosterone, and am excited to continue my medical transition for the rest of my life.

Every time I think about testosterone, I think about how grateful and fortunate I am to have the opportunity to get on testosterone, and to stay on testosterone. It is through the love, kindness, gentleness and affection of others I was able to start testosterone, and without them, I would not have been able to do so. Testosterone has changed my life and in so many ways, it has helped me heal from my past traumas. With testosterone, I am much more confident, much more happy, and much more excited about life than I ever was before. Now, thanks to testosterone and my medical transition, my mind is finally starting to line up with my body, my outsides are finally beginning to match my insides, and I am finally starting to get peace, and to love myself.

Trauma: In this journey of life, I have experienced a lot of trauma and personal pain. This pain stems from not being accepted by those I considered to be closest to me, and by being rejected by the very people I considered to be family. It was hard, painful, and awful. Losing those people made me appreciate the ones I had in my life who accepted me just the way I am. In this journey I have also found out that there is a huge differene between true acceptance and what others consider to be acceptance. True acceptance is when you accept the person completely and unconditionally for who they are, and not who you want them to be. Many people feel that acceptance is when you agree to disagree, but it is not. True acceptance is when you love the person just the way they are, without wanting to change them to fit the mold you have of them in your head. I have experienced this trauma with my own family, as well as with people I considered at one point to be my close friends. I have also experienced trauma in past relationships.

Relationships: I have experienced trauma through romantic and platonic relationships. I found out the hard way trauma and emotional abuse can happen from people claiming to love you, and claiming to care for you. As I have mentioned before, true acceptance is when a person accepts you just the way you are. A person who truly accepts another person also helps the person on their journey. True love is when a person cares about you, loves you, cherishes you, respects you, and values your needs and wants. If a person is not respecting you they are not loving you, because true love is acceptance and respect.

I have experienced trauma in relationships when people from my past said I was "going through a "phase" and said who I was was not valid because they did not "agree with it". I am here to say the only way to be truly happy in this world is to do and be what makes you happy and to truly and unconditionally love yourself. If you do not love yourself, the thoughts and opinions of others will always invade your thoughts of yourself, and that is something that will not help you on your personal journey.

Throughout my life, I have had many people tell me I was not really a man and I wasn't "manly enough" but I am here to say all of those people are no longer in my life, and hold no importance in my life anymore. I know who I am, truly and unconditionally, and now that I love myself, I am truly more at peace with who I am. I have also found peace through the love and support of those who love and support me and accept me just as who I am, Jace, a man. Through the unconditionally love and support of myself and the unconditionally love and support of others, I have began to heal.

Healing: Healing is something that has taken a lot of time for me. Time, patience, and effort. I listen to music, I meditate, I pray, I seek counsel in others and I listen to my heart and soul. All of these help me heal from the traumas in my past. Testosterone also helps heal me as well, because the more medically transitioned I get, the more I am able to look forward to my future, the more I am able to smile, and the more I am really able to enjoy life again. Healing has taken a long time for me, and is something that is still ongoing to this day. Healing is something that never stops and takes a lot of time, effort, dedication, love and support. Healing can be done through starting testosterone; the love of myself and the unconditional love and support of others. I am finally healing not only on the inside, but on the outside as well.
I hope you all have a fantastic day,
Jace